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Saturday, March 21, 2015

RECAP: Sea Dogs Win 4-1

FINAL: Saint John 4, Halifax 1

HALIFAX – After a rough ride down the
stretch, the Saint John Sea Dogs will enter the playoffs on a winning note.

The Sea Dogs brought a five-game losing
streak to an end on Saturday with a 4-1 victory over the Halifax Mooseheads at
Scotiabank Centre. The win means Saint John finishes 10th overall in
the QMJHL standings with a record of 32-26-4-6 for 74 points.

Mark Tremaine had a pair of goals in the
win while Samuel Dove-McFalls and Braydon Blight added singles. The Dogs were
playing without their top three scorers – Nathan Noel, Spencer Smallman and
Adam Marsh – to make the solid win even more impressive.

Sebastien Auger was given the day off.
Alex Bishop had a strong performance in net, making 27 saves in the win.

Halifax’s goal came from Timo Meier.
Eric Brassard made 28 saves in the loss.

The Mooseheads opened the scoring at
6:58 of the first period on a power play. Meier tried to centre the puck to the
top of the crease but it some skates in front. The Mooseheads import picked the
puck up and sent it off Bishop and in to give Halifax a 1-0 lead.

Shortly after Meier’s goal, Nikolaj
Ehlers had a breakaway but lost the puck. Ehlers had another great chance later
on but was robbed by the glove of Bishop.

In the second, Dove-McFalls tied it up
at 3:26 as his backhand shot rolled across the goal line. Then at 6:28 on a
power play, Daniel Del Paggio shoveled the puck to Tremaine in front who slid the disc
past Brassard to give Saint John a 2-1 lead.

The Sea Dogs made it a 3-1 game at 14:47
when Blight sped past the Halifax defence and wired a wrist shot upstairs on
Brassard.

With 1:37 left in the second, Thomas
Chabot received a double minor for a high stick on Vincent Watt, sending
Halifax to a four-minute power play. The Moose had a bit of pressure applied but
created no great chances.

At 6:16, Connor Moynihan hit Del Paggio
from behind and was given a five-minute major and game misconduct. The Dogs
couldn’t get a whole lot going on the man advantage, though.

Halifax pulled Brassard with plenty of
time left. With nine second remaining in regulation time, Tremaine hit the
empty net to make it a 4-1 final. Shots ended 32-28 in favour of Saint John
overall.

TURNING POINT/BIG MOMENT

Saint John’s three-goal second period
set the momentum for the rest of the game.

SN PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Alex Bishop made some key and timely
saves in the victory, even earning some praise from TSN’s Craig Button who was
in attendance.

NOTES

The Sea Dogs were without their three
leading scorers for the game. Nathan Noel (flu), Spencer Smallman (lower body),
Adam Marsh (lower body) and Bailey Webster (upper body) were all out of Saint
John’s lineup.

There was a pre-game ceremony honouring
Matthew Wuest, Metro Halifax’s former Mooseheads reporter, who passed away from colon
cancer this past week.

The Mooseheads have to wrap up their
regular season tomorrow against Moncton thanks to the snowstorm that cancelled
Wednesday’s game.

TSN’s Craig Button was at the game.

Mark Tremaine ends the regular season on
a nine-game point streak.

Saint John finishes the regular season with a 7-1-0-0 record against Halifax.

Nikolaj Ehlers had a 22-game home point scoring streak come to an end today.

NEXT GAME

The Sea Dogs open the 2015 playoffs on
an undetermined day against an undetermined team.